An Unexpected Pairing
by Baby Kat Snophlake
Summary: In answer to a challenge I decided on this cute little ficlet.  It's a really quick read if you're looking for something lighthearted.  Enjoy!


A/N: Welcome back! My friend told me someone else had proposed a challenge. It wasn't really though, it was just a prompt that I decided to write about. Bet you never heard this pairing before. If you have, then... well, you and the person mentioned before think alike. But admit it! It's not common! Nor is it gross. It's just... unusual. Anyway, enjoy!

** A HP Ficlet:**

Dumbledore sat alone in the dim lighting of his office running his fingers over the beautiful silver that was James Potter's invisibility cloak. James had had it for years and usually they faded away with time, but for some reason, James's special silver cloak clung to existence like a robust old man, such as Dumbledore himself. Yes, the material was very soft, almost like holding solid liquid. Dumbledore sighed, folding it up and setting it down on the shelf next to Hogwart's reliable hat of sorting. It would be useless to worry about one his best student's prized possessions now that it was so late into the night.

And so the invisibility cloak was left resting in silence next to the school's Sorting Hat. The only time the hat hadn't behaved like a normal hat should was when it was placed on a child's head, at which time the hat would spring to life and whisper words into that child's ears. Finally, despite having no lungs from which to draw air and spit it back out again, the hat would shout out the child's house, to which they would belong for the duration of their lives in school.

At this moment, like any other moment, the hat was silent sitting next to James's invisibility cloak, even when Dumbledore had returned to it not many days and nights later with a sad expression. Dumbledore had picked up the cloak, obviously thinking about the owner and how much James would be missed. And after several moments of fingering the fine cloth, the Headmaster of Hogwarts would fold it up and replace it back on the shelf next to the Sorting Hat, instead of returning it to the owner it had known for so long.

For many years, while James's young son was growing to the age of the double digits, the invisibility cloak and the Sorting Hat sat silently side by side. Dumbledore hadn't noticed, however, that as the years went by, the Sorting Hat and the Invisibility cloak were slowly but surely scooting closer at the rate of 1/16 of an inch per year.

Each time the new school year began, Dumbledore would allow his Deputy Headmistress to remove the Sorting Hat from its warmed spot on the shelf and for the short while that it was gone, the Invisibility cloak had been re-introduced to a feeling it had forgotten, but never liked: loneliness. For while the Sorting Hat was there, the Cloak had company. Another article of clothing that understood the pains of being inanimate without an owner to cherish it. With the loss of all of its owners, the Cloak had come to rely on the Sorting Hat to fill the void that been invisibly drilled into the cloth with James's death.

The Sorting Hat on its own had never had any real company besides the Headmasters of Hogwarts. At first, it had found the presence of the new material rather disconcerting, but after so many months of laying on the same shelf with the Cloak, it began to realize that the Cloak's presence wasn't at all unwelcome. Especially after a hard day of sorting children into their houses. It was nice to return to a quiet shelf with a Cloak that would understand.

After ten years of the same ritual, sitting in silence until the first of September, Dumbledore did something unexpected. He picked up the invisibility cloak and covered it in wrapping paper with a note, and tied it up with string. The package was left at the base of the bed of a young eleven year old boy that the Invisibility Cloak would later realize was James Potter's son Harry.

Harry never mistreated his father's Invisibility Cloak; in fact he was very good to it. Instead of leaving it in the chest at the foot of his bed, Harry had gotten the Cloak out and used it. A lot. The Cloak didn't understand why it was that Harry found so much interest in a mirror, but it felt a strange loneliness in seeing the Sorting Hat on the other side instead of Harry staring at his own reflection. What was Harry's interest in the Sorting Hat anyway?

Then again, why _wouldn't_ Harry want to sit and stare at the Sorting Hat? The Cloak itself was enjoying the visits… up until they stopped because of Dumbledore's interference. After that, the Cloak was stuffed into the chest at the foot of Harry's bed. His clothing, spare robes, socks, and underwear never seemed to provide the same quality comfort that the Hat did. In fact, there was a lot more room for the Cloak to be itself on the shelf. Why couldn't Harry just return it to Dumbledore so it could return to the Hat?

Then the situation got worse. The cloak had to stretch to include more than it had in a long time. Two humans and a rumbling crate with some kind of animal moving inside. That wasn't so bad, but then when the crate flew away with other humans, the Cloak was abandoned at the top of highest tower! All alone, it rested, waiting. Waiting for Harry to return and grab it. If it wasn't allowed to be with the Hat, at least it should be with Harry! Why, after so long of being well cared for, did Harry have to abandon it in such a cold place?

The Cloak was picked up again. It was Dumbledore! Finally! The Cloak could return to the Hat! It was disappointed to find it was being returned to the forgetful Potter boy. No doubt he would leave it behind yet again somewhere. But now, most of the time, it was locked up where it couldn't even slowly sneak its way back to Dumbledore's office at the rate of 1/16 of an inch per year.

To the Cloak's unnoticed horror, it was finally dragged away from Hogwarts at the end of the school year. It seemed hopeless that the Cloak would ever see the Sorting Hat again. And surely it never had left the locked trunk for months.

Another year had come and so had the sorting of the first years, though it was the only task of the Sorting Hat, it seemed far more troublesome than normal. The Hat still shouted the house names where the kids were supposed to go, but with far less enthusiasm. It knew that it would return to Dumbledore's empty shelf and the Cloak would not be there to help the Hat unwind. This made returning to the shelf seem far less appealing than it did several minutes ago. Whatever happened to the Cloak? Why did Dumbledore pack it up and never bring it back?

The Cloak wished that Harry would take it with him to see the sorting, but as Harry arrived at the school, he was quickly separated from his things. The trunk, however, was unlocked. The Cloak moved at 1/16 of an inch slowly towards freedom! Even though Harry had returned to his trunk several times in the following months, he never noticed how his father's cloak was inching ever so slowly across the trunk.

It was as if the Gods themselves were recognizing the plight of the Cloak! A girl had dragged the cloak from its prison in Harry's trunk and threw it to the floor, saving it thirty year's worth of travel across the room. The Cloak continued crawling unnoticed by any of the humans. Even Harry had returned, but he seemed more concerned about something else than the Cloak that had been thrown far from its supposed proper place.

In fact, no one cared that a cloak had somehow managed to get into the doorway of the boy's dorms until someone had tripped and both he, and Harry's Cloak flew down the stairs, saving the Cloak countless years of more travel.

The cloak landed happily at the Gryffindor Common room door. Finally! It could sneak its way back to the Headmaster's office where the Sorting Hat was waiting!

Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts Castle, had seen the cloak gathering dust as it crawled along, ever so painfully slow. Scowling, he picked it up. Some student had an invisibility cloak and was stupid enough to abandon it in the hallway after curfew! He carried the cloak down the corridors, to the left, right, and up stairs until finally he rested at the stone gargoyle that the Cloak recognized as the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Filch shook the Cloak as he showed his find to Dumbledore who eyed the cloak with mild interest. Neither had noticed the Sorting Hat slipping slower than a snail across the shelf, attempting to fall off.

Dumbledore took the Cloak from Filch and folded it, setting it down on his desk. Surely, Harry had wandered again and dropped his Cloak. He would return it later.

The room was emptied and the Cloak sat silent but not unmoving as it gently began to slowly unfold at the same rate that it moved. If it worked all night, maybe it would at least hit the floor by morning and be able to meet the Hat, which was slowly crawling towards the desk at the rate of 1/15 of an inch per year, by the crack of dawn four years from now. Hopefully, no one would interfere.

Dumbledore was sure he had placed Harry's Cloak on his desk, and not even Fawkes would have allowed it to fall to the floor. He picked it up and fingered it once more, thinking about its previous owner. It was here that he realized the Sorting Hat was also on the floor, however, he had no chance to retrieve it when he was summoned elsewhere. Surely the act of the Gods!

The Headmaster's office remained silent. The Cloak and the Hat continued moving closer, though at the Cloak's frustration, it had to start over from its spot, folded on the desk. The Hat was making far more progress.

Months ticked by and the Cloak had fallen to the floor, now speeding at 1 1/5 of an inch under the desk towards the Sorting Hat. They had made much progress with Dumbledore's disappearance and soon, they would be side by side in their silent resting spots once more.

Harry Potter never did find his father's Invisibility Cloak, and Dumbledore had more pressing matters than to check under his desk for dust mites let alone the Cloak. He was still trying to find what happened to the Sorting Hat, though a quick "accio" cured that problem. Frustratingly, though, the Sorting Hat would make all its progress along the shelf, falling to the floor, and inching its way across it, only to be picked up and thrown back onto the shelf.

It was times when Dumbledore disappeared that the Sorting Hat favored the most, for during that time, it would finally make it to the space under the desk where the dusty cloak would wait patiently for the Hat's return. Every time was a sweet moment when they finally managed to come to rest, side by side in the silence. Sooner or later, Dumbledore would disappear for good, and the Hat would never have to move again.


End file.
